Months of research and preparation culminated Wednesday evening at Parras Middle School in Redondo Beach, with eighth-grade students hosting parents and teachers for an evening of activism and awareness. The annual event – dubbed “Democracy in Action” – aims to introduce students to activism and community organizing.

Students chose a topic they cared about – education, racial equality, environmentalism – and spent several hours each day working on a final project to present.

“We wanted to make academic standards come alive,” said Janet Barker, an English teacher who helped develop the program. “Students must be capable of analyzing research and always be able to question the opposition’s point of view.”